Situational factors (proximity, location, uniform) and explanations (agent vs auto state, and LOA)

psychologically distance, consequences, legitimacy, authority, obedience, obedience, symbols of authority, greater, less obedience

Situational variables

Milgram replicated his study several times while changing situational factors.

• Proximity - this allows people to ?? themselves from the ? of their actions

• Location - the location of an experiment gives the experiment ? and ?, and makes participants think that ? is expected.

• Uniform - encourage ? because they are widely recognised as ???.

He wanted to see if these changes would cause ? or ??.

proximity, location and uniform

what were Milgram’s three situational factors?

proximity

Which one of Milgram’s situational factors is this?

this allows people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions

location

Which one of Milgram’s situational factors is this?

this gives the experiment legitimacy and authority and makes participants think that obedience is expected.

uniform

Which one of Milgram’s situational factors is this?

encourage obedience because they are widely recognised as symbols of authority

40%, proximity

Name the % of obedience in each of these conditions and state which situational variable it is

Teacher and learner in the same room

20.5%, proximity

Name the % of obedience in each of these conditions and state which situational variable it is

Experimenter left the room and issued instructions by telephone

30%, proximity

Name the % of obedience in each of these conditions and state which situational variable it is

Teacher forces learners hand onto plate

47.5%, location

Name the % of obedience in each of these conditions and state which situational variable it is

Study took place in a run down building instead of a prestigious university.

20%, uniform

Name the % of obedience in each of these conditions and state which situational variable it is

Experimenter was played by an ordinary member of the public

Bickman, civilian’s milkman’s, security guard’s, New York, pick up litter, twice, security guard, civilian, milkman, research support, uniform, reliability, real-life application, field experiment, external validity, generalise, target population, replications, similar, replications, Western, Milgram’s, individualistic, obedience, collectivist, culture bias, Milgram’s, Bickman’s, internal validity, ethnocentric, generalisability, target population

A03 of Milgram’s situational variables - strength and c/a

? instructed three confederates to dress in three different outfits – a ? outfit, a ? outfit, and a ?? uniform. The confederates stood in a street in ?? and asked passers-by to perform tasks e.g. ???. The people were ? as likely to follow the orders from the ?? than the ? and ? uniforms.

This is a strength because the evidence offers ?? for Milgram’s ? variable, meaning that this variable has high ?. Additionally, there is ??? of the research being portrayed in the real world with the use of a ??. This means that the study has high ??, increasing the opportunities to ? the findings to the ??.

C/a - two psychologists argued that even though ? of the study has been done to find ? results, most of these ? have been conducted in ? countries. 

This is a weakness as psychological research into ? situational variables has only been conducted in ? cultures. This is a weakness because ? levels are likely to be very different in ? cultures. Therefore, this ?? means that ? variables and ? experiment have low ?? as a result of the research being ? in nature. Consequently, this leads to low ? to the ??.

one variable at a time, 1000, large sample size, representativeness, characteristics, internal validity, biased characteristics, controlled conditions, extraneous variables, nature of the experiment, manipulated, member of the public, contrived, demand characteristics, screw, please u, artificial stimulus, civilian, mundane realism, internal validity, flaw in the method, generalise, target population

A03 of Milgram’s situational variables - strength and c/a

Milgram only manipulated ?????. Because of this, this lead to over ? different participants being tested.

This is a strength as Milgram used a ???, meaning that the research has high ? as many ? were present in the sample. This means that Milgram’s research has high ?? as a result of avoiding ?? in his sample, and the strongly ?? mitigating against ??.

C/a - It is likely that Milgram’s participants guessed the ???? due to the variations being so ?. Even Milgram agreed that the variation where the experimenter dressed as a ???? was very ?. 

This is a weakness as ?? may have occurred, leading to the ? or ?? effect. In addition, the ?? of the ? uniform means that the study lacks ??. Both of these factors mean that Milgram’s study has low ?? as a result of the ????. Therefore, this means that there are reduced opportunities to ? Milgram’s research to the ??.

obedience alibi, offensive, Holocaust survivors, family members, Nazi’s, orders, free will, dispositional factors, simplistic, reductionist, validity, obedience, generalise, target population

A03 of Milgram’s situational variables - weakness

A psychologist argued that Milgram’s research offers an ‘??’ for evil acts. He argues it is ? for ??/?? to state the ? were simply following ?. 

This is a weakness because this evidence suggests that Milgram’s situational variables ignore ?? and ??. This means that the research takes a narrow, ? view of human behaviour and ignores other factors, meaning that it takes a ? approach. Therefore, the research lacks ? as several factors influencing ? are ignored. Consequently, the opportunities to ? the findings to the ?? are limited.

agentic vs autonomous state (psychological) and legitimacy of authority (social)

What are the situational explanations/ social-psychological factors of obedience?

psychological, free will, responsibility, agentic shift, behalf of someone else, agent, authority figure, agentic shift, authority, moral strain, anxiety, unable to disobey, binding factors, moral strain, responsibility, denying, harm, victims

Situational explanations - agentic vs autonomous state (? factor)

• Autonomous state - when someone is in this state they show ?? and feel a sense of ? for their actions.

• During the ?? people move to the agentic state. When people are in this state, they will obey when they believe they are acting on ???? (they are an ‘?’ for the ??). People often shift (??) when they feel the other person has more ? than themselves. The person obeying feels ?? (such as ?) throughout their actions but feel ???.

People stay in the agentic state even when they want to disobey due to ??. These are factors of the situation which reduce ?? such as reassuring oneself it is not their ?/? the ? towards the ?.

social, early age, social hierarchy, legitimate authority, police officers, legitimate, agentic, following orders, responsibility, legitimate authority, destruction, destructive authority, social hierarchy, cruel, torturous

Situational explanations - legitimacy of authority (? factor)

People are taught from an ?? who is at the top of the ?? - and these people have ?? e.g. ??.

As people believe their authority is ?, they will act in an ? state, believing that they are simply ?? and it is their ?. 

However some authority figures have exploited their ?? to cause ?. This is ?? when they order people lower down in the ?? to act in ? and ? ways. 

Milgram’s, responsible, learner, experimenter, participant, legitimate authority, expert authority, scientist, research support, legitimacy of authority, reliability, destructive authority, social hierarchy, cruel, tortuous, validity, generalised, target population, students, young generation, authority, unrepresentative, generalised, target population, biased, age

A03 of situational explanations - strength and c/a

Two psychologists showed a film of ? study to students and asked them to identify who they felt was ? for the harm to the ?. The students blamed the ‘?’ rather than the ?. They also indicated the responsibility was due to ?? but also due to the ?? (he was a ?).

This is a strength as the study offers ?? for the ??? as the students accepted this explanation for obedience. This means that the research has high ? as a result of the students findings reflecting that of the situational explanation theory. Additionally, the study identifies an example of ?? as the participant (lower down in the ??) acts in a ? and ? way, which means the study has high ?. Therefore, this means that the research can be ? to the ?? to explain obedience.

C/a - however, the participants are ‘?’ which indicates that they are from a ?? and they may have a different attitude to ?. This is a weakness because the sample is ?, so therefore can’t be ? to the ?? as a result of ? characteristics and ? bias.

pass

A03 of situational explanations - strength and c/a

Mandel (1983) described one incident involving German Reserve Police Battalion 101 where men obeyed the orders to shoot civilians in a small town in Poland. This was despite the fact they did not have direct orders to do so and were offered other duties if they preferred.

Hofling et al’s s, agentic shift, nurses, doctor, anxiety, Milgram’s, agentic shift, obedience, moral strain, agentic state, situations, internal validity, reductionist, generalise, target population

A03 of situational explanations - weakness

The agentic shift explanation also does not explain the findings from ??? study. The ?? explanation predicts that, as the ? handed over responsibility to the ?, they should have shown levels of ? similar to ? participants. However, this was not the case. This suggests that the ?? can only account for some situations of ?.

This means that the nurses did not feel any ?? (a key element of Milgram’s ?? explanation). This suggests the agentic state can only account for some ? of obedience, meaning that the study has low ??. In addition, this theory takes a ? approach as a result of ignoring other factors that contribute to obedience. Therefore, this means that there are reduced opportunities to ? to the ??.